


A Good Day's Work

by sunlitroses



Category: Star Trek: Voyager
Genre: Episode: s01e03 Parallax, Friendship, Gen, XOs for the XOs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:14:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,830
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26383231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunlitroses/pseuds/sunlitroses
Summary: The Engineering Chief is a respected Starfleet institute, or what led B'Elanna to extend a peace treaty to Joe Carey instead of another knuckle sandwich.Alternatively: Chakotay is not paid enough for this job.
Relationships: Chakotay & B'Elanna Torres
Comments: 13
Kudos: 32
Collections: XOs for the XOs





	A Good Day's Work

**Author's Note:**

> Set during Star Trek Voyager: Season 1 Episode 3 Parallax, coming in near the end when it's all over except for the deluge of formal complaints the Captain is about to receive concerning her hiring practices.

“Cha- Commander,” he heard the call echo down the metal walls of the corridor after him and paused, half-turning.

Even if he hadn’t known the voice, the slip between his name and his title would have narrowed it down to his former crew. This voice, however, he could recognize in a fire fight – and had, many times.

“Lieutenant,” Chakotay acknowledged, as B’Elanna caught up to him and they fell into an easy pace again. An hour or so ago, the Captain had officially offered the position of Chief Engineer to her. Despite being welcome to join the meeting, he had chosen to handle the bridge. While he and B’Elanna’s friendship ran deep with all they had endured together, the working relationship between a Captain and her Chief was integral to the running of a ship. They needed to begin forging that without his interference. Besides his time on the bridge had given him ample opportunity to wonder what he had unleashed by combining the forces of Captain Kathryn Janeway and Maquis B’Elanna Torres on one ship. “Or should I start calling you Chief now?”

B’Elanna made a noise of dismissal. “Best not,” she waved her hand at the idea. “The Starfleet crew are mad enough, no need to rub their noses in it.”

His eyebrow raised as they rounded a corner, sidestepping an ensign barreling by heading towards – Ops, probably? Yes, he was with the Ops division and part of the Starfleet crew, his mind automatically categorized, but he struggled to narrow it down further. Studies of the personnel files were helping him to begin memorizing the crew, but he still needed more time. In the meanwhile, he had to cope with the prospect of B’Elanna Torres, diplomat. What had the Captain been telling her?

“Don’t give me that look.” Clearly, the eyebrow had not gone unnoticed. “Even I know better than to rile them up over a name. Besides,” a half grin lit her face mockingly for a second as she glanced over, “I want to save that for when I institute some new projects.”

Chakotay couldn’t quite suppress the smile, but did his best to smother it quickly. “I have no doubt you’ll run Engineering well,” he said sincerely. “They’re lucky to have you.”

Her step faltered uncertainly beside him. “Thank you,” she responded after a moment, “and thank you for putting me in for the position.”

“Voyager deserves the best,” it was a light answer as they reached his office. Tapping in the code, he stepped in ahead of her and continued, “Just don’t dent the crew, please.” At his entrance, the lights raised to his preferred medium level and the stats panels came to life. He didn’t even want to contemplate the numbers of reports queued.

“No, really, Chakotay,” B’Elanna wrapped a hand around his upper arm and tugged until he turned. The door slid shut behind her. “Thank you. I know it wasn’t an easy battle and,” she worried her lower lip, letting go of his arm, “I know I didn’t make it any easier.” She looked up at him with a gaze he recognized as the same when running from Fleet scouts with smoke pouring through the corridors: resolute, and hiding worry. “I promise I won’t let you down.”

If she was in a receptive frame of mind, he wasn’t going to pass on the chance of dousing the smoke to reduce her worries and nudging that resolution down an easier path. Lightly, he set his hands on her shoulders, taking care not to exert any pressure. He wanted her to know she had his focus, not to feel restrained.

“I have every confidence in you. You’re the best engineer I’ve ever met. The only way you could let me down is by giving it less than your all, which I don’t think is even possible for you,” he grinned, and she swatted at him, but her eyes looked suspiciously dewy. Chakotay moved towards his desk to give her time to collect herself. “You’re going to be even more of a role model. The Maquis crew has always respected you, but now they’re going to look to you to see how to integrate. Not to mention the Starfleet crew members who will be following you.”

“Following, and hopefully not sabotaging,” B’Elanna grumbled. “Don’t worry, I can take care of myself.”

“It’s not you I’m worried about in this case. Not exactly,” he amended, settling on the edge of his desk and leaning back. “The Engineering Chief, by any name, is a respected Starfleet institute.”

She frowned at him for a moment, dark eyes uncertain. “The Captain said something like that,” she answered slowly, “when we first, sort of, discussed the position. Commanding others, experience with Starfleet protocols and methodologies, hard feelings. It didn’t go well,” she admitted in a rush, “but she said that she didn’t know if she’d be doing me any favors putting me in charge down there.”

If this first discussion had been after he had all but twisted the Captain’s arm to force her to consider B’Elanna as a prospective candidate, Chakotay wasn’t surprised that it hadn’t gone well. She had probably gone on the offensive, pushing her to defend herself as a Starfleet officer would – respectfully, and with a list of bullet points about their qualifications. He could just imagine how B’Elanna had reacted to that type of interrogation.

“Protocols and methodologies can be learned,” he settled on telling her, “and command experience comes with, well, experience. The hard feelings, though, will only subside with time.” Chakotay was trying to keep an eye on that long game himself, waiting out the interim. Both Starfleet and Maquis crew members were testing him at the moment, pressing to see where the lines lay, how he commanded a Starfleet ship, what he would do in a crunch. He suppressed his sigh for a later time, preferably back in his quarters over a hot cup of tea away from the constant feel of eyes weighing his actions in the balance. “You’re a hell of an engineer, B’Elanna, and they know that now. So, you have an opportunity here.”

“An opportunity?” The smile came of its own accord as her eyes narrowed at him. He had been well known for ‘opportunities’ on his own ship. The crew had long learned to translate ‘opportunity’ as ‘miserable task’ - one that would benefit them in the long run, of course. Somehow they did tend to focus on the ‘miserable’ part of it, though.

“Yes. You just saved the ship. What are you going to do now?” He crossed his arms and waited while she thought the question over.

“Well, we have to do repairs,” she offered, tentatively. “But that’s not what you mean, right?” She continued before he could respond. “Because you were talking about hard feelings. I guess they might not be as mad since I helped with the singularity, but I don’t see any ‘opportunities.’” Her tone soured on the last word.

Chakotay caught her eye and held it. She wasn’t going to like this suggestion. “I wasn’t just talking about the hard feelings. I believe there were also protocols, methodologies, and experience. You’re in charge of a whole department now, filled with people who have experience with Starfleet.” She was getting the picture now, stepping away from him towards the seating area at the back of his office and already shaking her head. “Asking for help isn’t a crime, B’Elanna.”

“Procedures and protocols, I can learn that on my own,” she protested. “If they don’t think I can do the job, how is asking them to help me do the job going to convince them?” She began to pace and he settled more of his weight on the desk. “Oh, I suppose it would reassure them that I don’t intend to ignore their precious protocols,” she scoffed, then frowned and paced back towards the door again, “and I suppose it would depend on who I asked. I mean, just any crewman,” she trailed off and came to a standstill, back towards him. The sound of the other shoe dropping was almost audible. “You can’t be serious,” she said flatly, whirling to face him. “Carey? I’ve got to be his worst enemy now.”

“Right now you’re the person who got us out of the singularity, safe and whole, with the Captain’s trust to lead Engineering,” he reminded her, “but you’re going to need more than the Captain on your side down there. What do you think of Carey, as an engineer?”

“As an engineer?” she repeated. “I mean, he’s fine.” Chakotay raised an eyebrow again, since she seemed so attuned to that semaphore today. Her answer was a weak response, and she knew it. Huffing, B’Elanna threw her hands out to the sides. “Fine. He’s a good engineer,” she admitted. “I mean, his ideas with the singularity were good, they just weren’t the ones we needed. He ran a tight ship before that, I don’t want to undo too much of his work.” He swallowed a laugh. Not wanting to undo ‘too much’ was practically a glowing endorsement from the woman. “Before this Chief Engineer thing, he wasn’t even caught up in the Starfleet-Maquis debate, he just wanted everyone to do good work,” she sighed, deflating slightly and moving to stand in front of him again. “I’d be glad to have him in any engine room of mine. I get your point.”

Chakotay nodded and stood up. No need to belabor the idea, B’Elanna would either take his advice or not. Trying to force her to do something was wasted effort. Also generally painful, and he happened to like his nose unbroken.

“I suppose part of being a Chief Engineer is attempting to stop the mutiny before it happens,” she gave him a sideways, wobbly sort of grin.

“There’s the spirit,” he said, returning the grin with a clap to the shoulder. “Your first shift as head starts in an hour, I’ll formally hand it over to you then.”

With a sigh, she turned to go and Chakotay moved to investigate the pile of padds that he was beginning to suspect were breeding every time he turned his back on them.

“Hey,” he started to turn back at her voice, only to have her collide into his side in an awkward half-hug. “Thank you. Truly.” Before he could respond, she was out the door, waving over her shoulder.

He didn’t even attempt to stop the smile spreading over his face. He could only reliably identify two-thirds of the crew, he and his new Captain were circling each other warily deciding where the lines of trust could be laid, the Maquis crew was half-convinced he was laying some sort of deep-seated trap to take over the ship, the Starfleet crew thought the same with a very different perspective, and they were still stranded 70000 light years from home.

But this had been a good day’s work.


End file.
